It flew under the radar here but Detroit backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky had some interesting things to say about the New Orleans Saints during an interview on the Ross Tucker podcast Monday.

Orlovsky and the rest of the Lions offense have been studying the Saints offensive game film since Joe Lombardi was hired as offensive coordinator in January. Lombardi served on the Saints offensive staff for seven seasons and brought Sean Payton's offensive system with him to Detroit, where he is installing it on head coach Jim Caldwell's first-year staff.

Some of Orlovsky's most compelling comments, at least for Saints fans, were reserved for veteran wide receiver Marques Colston, who he refers to as a type of football "genius," according to Tucker, a former NFL offensive lineman who now works as an NFL analyst for a number of media outlets.

"I have no relationship with him at all," Orlovsky said of Colston. "I don't know him. If you just watch the film, if you took the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL and had them play receiver I feel that's how I feel he plays wide receiver. He just sees everything at a super intelligent level. He's always running the right route, but in the right space, the right way. How he turns his body ... he'll settle into windows that maybe on paper he's not supposed to settle in, but he does because maybe he sees that the window or the spot is there rather than it - quote, unquote -- should have been."

I've always maintained that Colston, who ranked No. 7 on the Saints roster by colleague Larry Holder, is one of the most underrated players in the NFL and one of the most under-appreciated by fans, primarily because many of his assets - instincts; route-running; reading the defense -- are inconspicuous or intangible. It's easy to see Colston drop a pass in traffic. What's less obvious are the subtle decisions he makes as a player, when he makes an adept read on a play, adjusts the planned route and finds a hole in the defense for a key third-down catch.

Orlovsky touches on this skill, saying his appreciation for Colston has grown immensely after watching Saints game film.

"He's just really intelligent, and you see him getting open and making catches that the play is not designed to do," Orlovsky said. "When you have a guy like that, 6-foot-5, 200-something pounds and is talented, he has a 9-10-11-year, high-level career."

Dan Orlovsky was a backup for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2013 season before joining the Detroit Lions as a free agent this spring. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)Reinhold Matay

Some of Orlovksy's other interesting comments:

On the new "Saints" offense: "The first thing is it's a real player-friendly offense. In New Orleans, they have so much A-to-Z talent, they do a lot to get a lot of different guys in different places. They're not a team that just lines up and goes and plays football. They sub out personnel every single play. They get in different formations. They run the same play 10 times but 10 different ways. They motion guys. There's going to be a lot of those aspects that come to Detroit because there are so many weapons on our offense now, but then there's the one that guy (Calvin Johnson) that New Orleans never had.

On Johnson: "It's funny because when we watch the film with offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, we practiced with him a bunch this past OTAs and minicamp, and even he kind of giggles sometimes and laughs and says, 'I've just got to get used to how good Calvin Johnson is.' Because he hasn't necessarily had a guy who can line up and just say, go win every single play, or just run a '9' route or go route and just go win. They've had to scheme or sugar-coat things up in the past for them, according to his experience. He doesn't necessarily need to do that (in Detroit), but now he can, with also the option of just playing football with Calvin."

On if the offense's "bells and whistles" are necessary: "Oh, yeah. You have to think from breaking the huddle to snapping the ball, 8 to 12 seconds ... go by. And If you line up in one thing and the defense has to check to a certain situation they want to get into and in some capacity you switch, they have to switch as well and they have to communicate it as well and then you can get matchups. That's how the Saints so often get Jimmy Graham on somebody that is favorable to them."

On the difficulty of defending the offense: "It's a lot of moving parts for a defense. Some defenses have the mindset of, they're just going to get gray and real vanilla and not do a lot of checking into what you do. And that just makes it even easier for you if you have smart quarterback, 'cause then he knows exactly what you're doing. It's challenging for the offense, too. You have to be on top of your stuff, too. You have to know when to motion, how to motion. There's definitely fine detail parts to it. If you do it and do it well it with certain guys, it can definitely benefit an offense. ... It's a lot of offense. It's a lot of potential to be really good and have a lot of pieces in place. It's going to be exciting."

(Dunc Shot is columnist Jeff Duncan's daily take on the sports world.)